1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to processing of telecommunications service data in a telecommunications network, particularly in an intelligent network.
In order to make the following description easier to understand, some terms used below will be defined first. A customer and a subscriber denote a person or a community that purchases a (intelligent network) service and uses it. A service provider or user denotes a person or a community that creates the service according to the requirements of the customer or the subscriber. An operator denotes a person or a community that operates a telecommunications network. A manufacturer denotes a person or a community that manufactures the hardware and software by means of which the operator or service provider creates the (intelligent network) service.
2. Description of the Related Art
In telecommunications networks, intelligence relates to the ability to access stored data, process it and make decisions on the basis of it. Present telecommunications networks, such as public switched telephone networks (PSTN), are intelligent to some extent since they are able to process stored data in connection with routing a call, for instance. A typical xe2x80x9cintelligentxe2x80x9d facility or service in the present telecommunications networks is a conditional call forwarding, which requires analysis of the call state and routing of the call onward according to the stored service profile of the call forwarding. Depending on the telecommunications system, these facilities and subscriber service profiles associated with them have been maintained in different network elements, such as subscriber databases in mobile communications networks.
However, intelligent facilities of this type have been an integral part of the primary network, whereby to alter the facilities or to increase the number of them has required, for instance, software updating in every network exchange. This is the reason for developing an intelligent network (IN). The intelligent network is a network architecture connected to the primary network, enabling faster, easier and more flexible service implementation and service control. This is performed by transferring the service control from the telephone exchange to a separate functional unit of the intelligent network. The services thus become independent of the primary network operation, and the primary network structure and software do not have to be changed when services are altered or added. In addition to the actual network operator, an intelligent network may comprise several service providers.
The intelligent network architecture can be applied to most telecommunications networks, such as public switched telephone networks (PSTN), packet switched public data networks (PSPDN) and integrated services digital networks (ISDN) and broadband-ISDNs (B-ISDN). Independently of the network technology, the purpose of the intelligent network architecture is to facilitate the creation, control and management of new teleservices.
In fixed networks, intelligent network standardization has progressed rapidly in recent years. For example, the CCITT Q.1290 and prETS 300 374-1, Intelligent Network Capability Set 1 (CS1) are specifications related to intelligent networks. These standards define a certain functional and hierarchical model for the intelligent network. FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the intelligent network and some of its components. The intelligent network also comprises other functional or physical units, which are not, however, significant as far as the present invention is concerned.
In the intelligent network model, service control has been transferred from the exchange of the primary network (SW) to a service control point (SCP) in the intelligent network. The SCP comprises the required database and service logic programs (SLP), in other words the software to provide the logic structure of a particular service (service logic). A service switching point (SSP) is an exchange, for instance a primary network exchange (SW) fulfilling the service switching function (SSF), in other words the identification of the intelligence network service and the triggering of interaction with the service control point (SCP). FIG. 1 also shows the subscriber equipment (SE) of the primary network.
The functions related to the intelligent network service management are described below.
A service data point (SDP) comprises customer and network data used while performing a service. Functionally, the SDP comprises a service data function (SDF). It comprises data used by the service logic programs for providing individual services. The SCP or SMP/SMS has direct access to the SDP.
The service management point (SMP) or the service management system (SMS) performs service management control, service provision control and service deployment control. Examples of its functions are database management, network testing, network traffic management and network data collection. Functionally, the SMP comprises a service management function (SMF) and optionally, a service management access function (SMAF) and a service creation environment function (SCEF).
The service creation environment (SCEP) is employed to define, develop and test an intelligent network service and to input it to the SMP. Functionally, it comprises a service creation environment function (SCEF). The SCEP may interact directly with the SMP.
The service management access point (SMAP) provides some selected users, such as service managers and customers, with a connection to the SMP. Functionally, the SMAP comprises a service management access function (SMAF). The SMAP interacts directly with the SMP.
Subscription service data of intelligent networks has previously been managed through the customer data systems of the operator, or through the SMAP or by terminals or work stations connected directly to the SMP or the SMS of the intelligent network, such as work stations WS1 and WS2 in FIG. 1. International PCT Applications WO9211724, WO9325035 and WO9405111, for instance, disclose examples of this sort of implementation.
With an increase in the use of the intelligent network services, the need for frequent updating of service related data has also increased. This has led to a growing load on the operator personnel and customer care systems when prior art solutions are employed. A need has thus arisen to allow external users, such as subscribers and service providers, to update their service data on a self-service basis. The prior art solutions are, however, unsuitable for this mainly for reasons of security, capacity and human resources.
It is an object of the invention to provide the users and customers with the ability to input, view and update their service related data in a secure and controlled manner.
It is a further object of the invention to provide, within a management access system, the operators with an open interface enabling different service management and billing systems to be added flexibly.
This is achieved by a system for processing service data in network elements managing the telecommunications services of the telecommunications network. The system is characterized in that the system is connected to one or several network elements managing the telecommunications services, the system comprises an open protocol interface to a public data network, through which the customers and service providers are able to selectively access their service data in the telecommunications network.
The invention provides an access system separate from the actual network elements managing the telecommunications services, said system providing the customers and service providers with an open interface to these network elements through a public data network. Controlled by the access system of the invention, they can access their service data through this open interface in network elements managing the data. The access system of the invention and an interface open to use provide the customers and service providers with an opportunity to access their service data and process it on a normal computer and through a public data network. Special terminals employed in prior art solutions can thus be avoided and the self-service function of service data modification and updating can be extended to apply to an almost unlimited number of customers or service providers. However, the access system of the invention is always between the customer and the actual network managing the service data; it is impossible to establish a direct and uncontrolled connection. The access system is arranged to control the access to the actual network elements by for example authenticating the party requesting access, by verifying whether the requesting party is associated with the data the party wants to manipulate, and/or by verifying to which processing operations the requesting party is entitled. A typical implementation is that an operator has access to all data, a service provider has access to the data of its customers and finally, a customer has access merely to his/her own data. Many other solutions may be used additionally or alternatively in order to ensure security.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention a user interface is implemented by world wide web (WWW) application in a WWW server providing the customers and service providers with access to their service data by means of an ordinary WWW browser. This interface is the preferred choice when large amounts of data, such as numbering plans and routing lists, is updated.
In another embodiment of the invention the access system further comprises interactive voice response apparatus which is connected to the exchange of the telecommunications network to provide the customers with an interface through which they have access to their service data in the telecommunications network by means of a fixed or mobile subscriber terminal. The voice response apparatus can, for example, provide a customer with voice prompt menus to which the customer is requested to response by dual tone multi-frequency responses generated from a subscriber terminal keyboard. The voice response apparatus can subsequently receive the dual tone multi-frequency response of the customer and deliver the response in the desired form to at least one said network element managing telecommunications services. This interface is preferred for updating limited amounts of data, such as when service features are activated/deactivated, or when choices are made between screening lists and routing alternatives, etc.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention the access system further comprises a high-level generic interface between the access system applications and the network elements managing the telecommunications services and optionally between customer care and billing systems of the operators. This interface is here referred to as a service management interface (SMI). In the present invention this SMI can be employed by a WWW application in a WWW server and an interactive voice response application in an interactive voice response unit in order to provide access to the SMP database or other corresponding element. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the data transfer architecture over the SMI is a distributed customer/server solution based on common object request broker architecture (CORBA). This architecture allows the applications to communicate with each other independently of where they are located or who has designed them. This architecture provides a rough basis for open, distributed environments that are based on standards and are capable of growing as the operator""s requirements increase.
The present invention enables service data modification on a self-service basis, which diminishes the load on operator personnel and customer care systems.